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“Here, hold this,” Cindy suddenly announces, passing me the bottle of wine.
I bring the bottle up to my mouth and drink straight from it, even though I have a full glass in my other hand, watching with fascination as she lifts her leg and kicks the door as hard as she can.
“Damn it. That always works in the movies,” she complains when the door still doesn’t budge.
“Anyone have a bobby pin?” I ask as Ariel gets up from the floor and we all stand staring at the door. “See that little hole in the middle of the handle? It’s obviously a push-button lock. All we need is something sharp to stick in there, and the lock should immediately pop open.”
They both turn around and glare at me.
“Maybe that’s something you could have shared with the class five minutes ago, asshole,” Ariel complains
I just shrug my shoulders and take another swig from the bottle as Cindy reaches up into her long mane of blonde hair and pulls out a bobby pin that was holding her bangs back. Ariel and I crowd against her back, looking over her shoulder as she bends open the pin and sticks it in the hole. A few seconds later, there’s an audible pop.
We all look at each other in surprise.
Even with all the wine I’ve consumed, I still know this is wrong. I still know we shouldn’t be going into this room right now. I’m hoping that since I wasn’t the one who actually picked the lock, I’ll be absolved from all the guilt I’m feeling. Technically I didn’t break in, Cindy did.
“Are you ready for this?” Ariel asks me, grabbing the bottle from my hand and taking her own big gulp from it. “What are you going to do if we walk in this room and there’s dead bodies all over the place?”
“For the average human, a stench is usually perceived about twenty-four hours to three days after death, depending on a few factors,” I tell them. “I’ve been living here for almost two weeks. I would have smelled dead bodies by now.”
Ariel moves away from the door and points at Cindy.
“You go first.”
“I’m not going first, are you crazy?” she protests, moving back from the door as well. “What if something jumps out at me? My reflexes are slow and I won’t be able to defend myself. I’ve had too much wine. You go first.”
She grabs Ariel’s arm and yanks her closer to the door.
“Oh, hell no! There could be anything in there! What if he keeps wild animals in there? What if a tiger jumps out at us as soon as we open the door? My face is too pretty to be eaten by a tiger!” she whines.
“Oh, for the love of God,” I mutter, moving forward and shoving both of them out of the way. “I’ll do it.”
So much for absolving myself of guilt. My need to know what’s behind this door has pushed my guilt to the backseat.
Without giving it another thought, I turn the handle on the door and step inside. Smacking my hand against the inside wall, I feel for a light switch and flip it on. The room is immediately bathed in the soft glow of a beautiful, crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling, and I can’t help it—my eyes instantly fill with tears as I look around with my jaw hanging wide open.
Ariel and Cindy shoulder past me, both of them coming to a dead stop in the middle of the huge room. It has a vaulted ceiling just like out in the living room, and I’m honestly surprised at the size of it. I’m guessing Vincent must have knocked down a few walls, because this thing is three times the size of both of our bedrooms combined.
“What in the actual fuck?!” Ariel shouts as she moves further into the room.
“This is . . . not at all what I expected,” Cindy adds.
I can do nothing but stand here in shock as my two friends move around the room.
“Why in the hell would he make it a rule that you can’t come in here and keep this room locked? This is like your mother ship,” Ariel says with a shake of her head.
It’s definitely my mother ship. It’s the most beautiful home library I’ve ever seen. And really, calling it a home library is a disgrace. It’s almost more beautiful than the library I work in. There’s floor-to-ceiling walnut bookcases covering each wall all around the room, every single shelf jam-packed with books. There’s even a ladder on wheels, and I start bouncing up and down on the balls of my feet, the need to climb that thing and have someone push me around the room so great that I almost can’t stand it. We don’t even have one of those things at my library. We have to use an old, crappy, regular ladder to get up to the higher shelves.
